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Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the timeframe of1820 and 1840.This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, the increasing use of steam power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the factory system. The Industrial Revolution created a need for unions. Before the Inudstrial Revolution, emoylers could make people work for an outrageous number of hours a day, barely making any money. -
Civil War
The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the survival of the Union or independence for the Confederacy. The first organization acting as a federation to encompass American unions was the National Labor Union. The largest union of the time was the Order of the Knights of St. Crispin, representing the shoe industry, -
Great Southwest Railroad Strike
Knights of Labor went on strike at the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific railroads. Hundreds of thousands of workers across five states refused to work, citing unsafe conditions and unfair hours and pay. This relates to labor movement because the workers wante safer and better working conditions. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The law forbade any "restraint of commerce" across state lines. It also allowed courts to rule that union strikes and boycotts were covered by the law. This allowed people in unions to boycott legally. -
Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike was an industrial lockout and strike culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents. The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (AA) was an American labor union formed in 1876. It was a craft union representing skilled iron and steel workers. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
A fire broke out on the top floors of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. Firefighters arrived at the scene, but their ladders weren’t tall enough to reach the upper floors of the 10-story building. In the paper, many people read about deaths of workers who could not escape. This brought attetnion to work safety condtions and started unions. -
Ludlow Massacre
The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families. Two dozen people, including miners' wives and children, were killed. Many stike workers were replaced by new workers. -
Steel Strike
Following World War I, United States Steel Corporation workers represented by the American Federation of Labor organized a strike against poor working conditions, long hours, low wages and corporate harassment regarding union involvement. Company owners invoked public concerns over communism and immigration as a way of turning public sentiment against the unions. This resulted in the strikes failure and ensured an absence of union organization in the steel industry for the next 15 years. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. It changed Amrericas view of unions. During the depression, 1/3 of Americans were uneployed. Then, the Norris-LaGaurdia Act was passed, and created more unions. -
The Norris-LaGuardia Act
The Norris-LaGuardia Act banned yellow-dog contracts. It restricted the use of court injunctions in labor disputes against strikes, picketing, and boycotts. This relates to unions, because the act allowed the workers to join unions and fight for their working rights. -
The Wagner Act
The Wagner Act gave workers the right to form unions. Also, strike was protected in this Act. This relates to unions, because unions are made up of people who seek to improve their working conditions, and this act permits wokrers to create unions to fight for their rights.
